The magic in Bhuvneshwar's wrist

Matt Henry's maintains his line
Matt Henry's pitch map shows that he bowled a fifth-sixth stump line throughout and the beehive also suggests that majority of balls finished on the same line too. To constantly bowl a probing line outside off is likely to bring success. The reason for Henry's consistency was his positioning on the crease close to the stumps and a strong, stable wrist.

Saha fights with patience
The sight of batsmen battling tough sessions is becoming increasingly rare and therefore it was heartening to see the way Wriddhiman Saha fought through the tough phases on the first day and second morning. Saha is predominantly a front-foot player and scored only three times off balls that pitched shorter than the six-metre mark, which exemplified his patience more.

Bhuvneshwar's strong wrist
The first two balls that Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled showed the value of a strong wrist behind the ball for a swing bowler. The first ball came out of his hand with the seam tilted towards the first slip, and the second had the seam tilted towards fine-leg. To use these two variations in the first two balls of his first spell, on his return after missing the Kanpur Test, showed immense control and confidence.

21.2 and 23.1 - The threat of low bounce
R Ashwin bowls a nicely flighted delivery pitched on a good-length spot that brings Luke Ronchi forward to offer a defensive shot. The ball takes a little piece off the pitch enroute, and finds the inside edge before thudding into Ronchi's body. It could be the footmarks created by New Zealand's left-arm seamers or possibly the first sign of the corners of the cracks disintegrating.

A few deliveries later, the ball pitches at an almost identical spot but this time it goes through the pitch. The lack of bounce deceives not only the batsman but also the keeper. It is almost impossible to negotiate a ball that does not bounce even a few inches. Considering that it is only the second session of the second day, batting is likely to get tougher in the days to follow.

Bhuvneshwar tweaks his length
The best part about Bhuvneshwar's five-wicket haul was the way he adjusted his length. His natural length is to pitch the ball a lot fuller to induce edges or leg-before dismissals but on this Eden pitch, he needed to pull it back a yard. Whenever there is some uneven bounce in the pitch, one must bowl at a length that allows the ball to misbehave after pitching, which is a little bit on the shorter side. On dusty Indian pitches one must vary the length regularly but, on this pitch, Bhuvneshwar needed to be at the same spot ball after ball. His accuracy is his biggest strength and on this surface its significance was magnified.